You know the old saying “Life is a journey, not a destination?” I think the same holds true for healthy eating. Hubby has asked me in the past why I’ve changed so much how I eat over the years. Is it because I’m ADD? No, I just constantly learn about healthy eating – what works for me and what doesn’t.
What makes me feel like my diet is restricted and what makes my diet feel like it’s free. What keeps me satisfied and what doesn’t. I learn and I adapt and I repeat the process. I am far from the best example of a healthy eater, but when I think about how much my eating has changed over the years, it makes me really happy. 
I’d consider myself a pretty average American, so I ate all the usual suspects as far as less-than-stellar food choices. But, here are some things I’ve just outgrown in recent years:
- Fast food (McDonald’s, Chick-Fil-A, etc.)
- Candy (the junk food kind – it tastes like plastic to me now – give me dark chocolate!)
- Heavily processed foods (anything with an ingredient list that reads like a novel – it tastes fake)
- Stuff you eat out of a vending machine (Oh I ate a honey bun in my day, but now it seems so gross)
- Fake pancake syrup (I used to like the buttery flavor, but it tastes like plastic now to me – I prefer real maple syrup)
My taste buds have changed! I really think it’s true that the better you eat, the more you grow to like the lighter and healthier foods and the more you outgrow the unhealthy ones.
I still eat sweets, but I prefer to get them made from scratch at local bakeries – or to bake my own from scratch using healthier ingredients.
And I still eat some processed foods, but I try to limit them and choose the versions that are as close to natural as possible. I look for short ingredient lists that I can read and understand. Food Rules anyone?
As I mentioned earlier…one thing I constantly try to do is learn. Learn about new ingredients that are more healthful than others I’m more familiar with. I love browsing a health food store, finding something I’ve never heard of before and figuring out how to use it. I try to move not-as-good ingredients out of my life and these new finds in. For example, I find myself baking much more with sucanat than granulated sugar. And I now use unbleached flour instead of traditional AP flour…though I usually try to use whole grain versions (yay spelt!) whenever possible.
I hit up one of my local natural grocery stores yesterday and stocked up on some of my fave ingredients and a couple new ones.
From the bulk bins:
- coarse salt
- kamut berries
- sucanat
Other buys:
- Organic raw cacao powder
- teff flour
- amaranth flour
- vital wheat gluten
I’m really excited about this amaranth flour. I’ve been wanting to try this stuff for about a year now, but it’s so darn expensive. I haven’t been able to force myself to buy it.
And this was something I’ve been looking for but haven’t seen around town yet – organic raw cacao powder. I’m really looking forward to finding some fun ways to utilize this. It reminds me of that fabulous lunch I had at Cafe Gratitude in November .
I know I’ve asked about foods that make you say, “I can’t believe I used to eat that!“, but without it having to be shocking, what are some not-so-healthy foods that you’ve just grown out of over the years?
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